Universities across the country are reopening for the first time since sending students home in March. Check the colleges in your area.
To prevent a repeat of last semester, many campuses have taken measures to reduce classroom capacity; everyone is required to wear masks; and there will be hand sanitizer and wipes distributed across college grounds.
Most universities are screening students for COVID-19 systems, and have implemented a testing system as students return to campus.
Some have eliminated their fall breaks, and are sending students home to finish their semester online after Thanksgiving.
“None of us, whether you’re a student or a faculty or a staff member, want to go through this year the way we ended last year,” said Larry Wielk, dean of students at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut.
Here are some Connecticut and Long Island university reopening policies:
CONNECTICUT
Sacred Heart University
- Sacred Heart University is requiring everyone to wear a mask on campus at all times, outside housing and private offices. There will be designated outdoor mask-free spaces for socially distanced meet-ups.
- Students and faculty are required to wipe down their spaces in classrooms both before and after use. Sanitizing wipes will be available outside classrooms.
- A statement on the website says, “there may be some restrictions regarding guests in the residence halls.” Wielk said students from different residence halls will not be allowed to visit each other’s rooms, and overnight guests and visitors from outside Sacred Heart are not allowed in an effort to “minimize the number of non-Sacred Heart related people who come to campus.”
- Sacred Heart is expanding the number of take-out options on its menus, adding mobile ordering, and expanding hours.
- Meal plan costs have been adjusted to reflect students’ shorter stays on campus this fall.
- Classrooms will be held at 50% capacity, and could transition online if needed.
- All students can choose to stay home and take only online classes.
- Columbus Day weekend was eliminated, and in-person instruction will end on November 24. The rest of the semester will be online, except for rare exceptions.
- Students caught hosting parties with more than 12 people off campus will be suspended for 30 days. If caught a second time, they’ll be expelled.
Sacred Heart University is the licensee of WSHU Public Radio.
Fairfield University
- Fairfield University is launching a daily health monitoring questionnaire through its LiveSafe app. Students, faculty and staff are required to fill it out before arriving on campus.
- The university plans to test 5-10% of its campus population every week, and students must test negative for COVID-19 before returning to campus.
- Students can choose to complete their semesters either on campus or from home after Thanksgiving.
- There will be a hybrid of remote and on-campus courses.
- Students caught hosting parties with more than 12 people off campus will be suspended for 30 days. If caught a second time, they’ll be expelled.
Quinnipiac University
- Quinnipiac University has implemented a hybrid course model called Q-Flex.
- Some courses now involve augmented reality. For instance, anatomy and physiology students can work with digital cadavers remotely.
- Students are expected to sign a pledge that asks, among other things, that they use an app to record their symptoms every day and vaccinate for the flu in the fall.
- Quinnipiac plans to test 15% of students every week and can generate results in about an hour on campus.
Southern Connecticut State University
- About 64% of classes this fall will be held online. The rest are in-person or hybrid.
- SCSU will provide the campus community with five face masks apiece, and offer extra masks at central campus locations if needed.
- If SCSU decides to move the campus online, the university will alert the campus community within 24 hours.
- Students living in residence halls are permitted one guestper room. West Campus Suites residents are allowed two guests per suite.
U.S. Coast Guard Academy
- The Coast Guard Academy is working on a surveillance and diagnostic testing process for its students.
- The academy will send cadet corps home over Thanksgiving break to finish their semesters remotely.
- Classes are most likely hybrid, but the academy intends to have their corps on campus.
- Fall athletics have been canceled, but sports teams will continue to practice.
University of Bridgeport
- Fall break was eliminated.
- Students must test negative for COVID-19 preferably within 72 hours of arriving on campus, but no more than 14 days before arrival.
- All fall sports have been canceled.
University of Connecticut
- UConn is implementing a phased quarantine as students arrive on campus. Students will be tested for COVID-19 when they arrive on campus, and will be confined to their dorm rooms until they receive a negative result. Quarantined students will be allowed to pick up food from designated dining halls.
- During the second phase of quarantine, students will be allowed to “engage in limited outdoor activities” with their roommates.
- Full-time undergraduate students at the Storrs campus will save more than $700 in student fees if they opt to take all their classes online and don’t live in university housing.
- UConn has asked students to maintain immunizations and get a flu vaccine.
- Out-of-state students enrolled in all online courses are not permitted to live in university housing this fall.
University of New Haven
- Some classes will be recorded and live-streamed while 50% of the class attends each session.
- Students will rotate in for in-person class. For instance, commuter students with last names starting with A-K enrolled in Monday/Wednesday classes will attend in person on Monday and remotely on Wednesday.
- Students are required to be tested for COVID-19 within five days of their return to campus. The university is working with a COVID-19 testing provider called Let’s Get Checked to provide an at-home testing option to some students. The kit will only be provided to students over 18 and costs a one-time fee of $117.
Yale University
- All students are required to sign the Yale Community Compact, which outlines health and safety guidelines. Under these guidelines, students are required to commit to regular COVID-19 testing and cooperate with contact tracers.
- Students must stay in Connecticut for the fall semester until November 21.
- Most courses will take place remotely.
- The Ivy League has suspended fall sports.
LONG ISLAND
Adelphi University
- Adelphi plans to train community members on how to properly use and discard PPE.
- Sharing face masks is not allowed.
- In-person classes will also stream lectures, for students who can’t attend.
- Residence halls will operate under 10% capacity “to allow for social distancing and allocation of a floor for temporary quarantine and isolation.”
Hofstra University
- Students are required to wear masks on campus. Eating and drinking are not allowed in classrooms.
- If a student refuses to wear a mask in class or breaks the eating/drinking rule, they will be withdrawn from the course for the semester.
- Students may reserve desks on campus to take their online classes.
- The university is not supporting international travel during the fall semester.
LIU Post
- No overnight guests are permitted in residence halls. Only double or single rooms are available this fall to limit density.
- LIU campuses plan to “resume in-person classroom instruction with social distancing protocols in place whenever practical.”
- Classrooms have been adapted to reduce crowd density, and students who can’t attend in-person lectures will be able to tune in through lecture capture or Zoom.
Stony Brook University
- Stony Brook University has adopted a hybrid model of instruction. Only smaller classes will be held in-person, and they’ll be held in larger classrooms to allow for social distancing.
- The university has advised students to carry their own hand sanitizer, as well as hand sanitizer stations available at building entrances.
- All students on campus — both commuters and residents — are required to conduct a daily health screening.
- All Stony Brook community members will be provided with two washable face masks. PPE will also be available in vending machines around campus.
Suffolk Community College
- 88% of courses will be held online. On-campus courses are mostly limited to laboratories.
- Student groups on campus will be limited to no more than 12 people.
- Libraries will be open by appointment only for students to access computer labs.
- The college has expanded outdoor wireless access to parking lots on all campuses, and will offer 100 internet hotspots.
- All in-person activities for the fall semester are suspended, except for events approved by campus administration.